There’s limited time every day to get work done. When you make an effort to work faster, you can feel a ripple effect on achieving your goals, working as a team, and creating a healthy work-life balance.
In this guide, you’ll learn more about goal setting, time management, and working faster as a team. Plus, there are actionable tips on how to implement work habits that help you work faster and stop procrastination.
Why is it important to work faster?
Every team leader talks about how important it is to work faster. What difference does working more quickly make to your workload and your responsibilities?
Boosts team morale
When you’re working at a healthy pace and getting things done fast, it inspires your teammates. Encouraging each other to work faster makes it feel like any success is a team effort. You’re holding each other accountable and engaging more with your job.
Get more done in less time
This one may be a tad obvious, but by working more quickly, you get more tasks completed in your workday. This leaves you more freedom to get on with passion projects or help your team in areas they might be struggling, when you might otherwise be staring at the clock.
More free time
Working smarter and faster means you finish what you started sooner, leaving more time to do what makes you happy. Quick working gives you a healthier work-life balance by preventing your workload spilling over into the hours you should be going bowling or gathering at your family barbecue.
Working quickly can help boost your productivity. It helps to have a plan in place to complete more important tasks first and not dwell on the less urgent things that can wait.
Less stress
If you’re one to twiddle your thumbs when the work’s piling up, it feels stressful to know you have deadlines looming and only limited time to do good work. Tackling your work quickly helps you avoid that procrastination altogether and any unnecessary stress.
Customers expect it
Customers don’t want to wait for a reply, and users dislike waiting for that app update or a product to come back in stock. Working quickly keeps customers happy, which is great news for your bottom line. Using a CRM Template can organize your customer-centric tasks and communications to speed up customer support.
If working faster is so important, how can you change your work habits to become a faster and smarter worker?
How can I work faster and smarter?
Everyone’s workflow varies, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to work faster. But here are some strategies that can help, provided you’re consistent in your efforts.
Make a to-do list
Everyone knows what a to-do list is, but are you using yours effectively? Your to-do list takes your mental notes and puts them down on paper (or screen). It frees up that mental real estate, so you can work on meaningful tasks and not worry if you’ve forgotten to do something. Plus, it feels good to check tasks off when they’re done! In mondaycom’s Work OS, you can create a clever to-do list by creating a new board focused on tasks and view it multiple ways.
Prioritizing tasks gets you focused on meaningful work. You’re less likely to preoccupy yourself with ‘busy’ work as a distraction.Eat the frog
Mark Twain famously said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” In your work, the frog is that task you really want to avoid. It might feel easier to distract yourself with smaller tasks, but that unpleasant one will always be at the back of your mind, and you won’t be able to fully focus. Get it done, then everything else will seem easy!
Automate the simple stuff
You probably spend a lot of time manually completing menial tasks, even though you could automate them instead. Using monday.com’s Work OS can help automate tasks inside monday.com and with third-party apps like Slack and Trello through seamless app integration.
Focus on one task at a time
Multitasking used to be something to boast about. Now we know it can hurt productivity. To work faster with fewer errors, focus on completing one task at a time. You’ll keep up momentum easier than if you’re constantly switching between projects.
Minimize distractions
We live in a world that’s designed to be a constant distraction. When you’re working, beeps, buzzes, and pings slow you down. Switch off your smartphone notifications, block social media to stop mindless scrolling, and tell people around you that you need to focus.
As a bonus tip, using noise-canceling headphones with focus music can help block out distracting sounds.
Take plenty of breaks
Working faster doesn’t just mean going full steam ahead until you run out of, well, steam. To keep yourself healthy and give your brain a rest, schedule plenty of break time. If you use a computer for the majority of the day, take some time away from your screen — look out the window or go for a walk. Using a timer app or browser extension can prompt you to step away when it’s time to rest your eyes.
Double-check your work
Working quickly has a downside — chiefly, that you might be prone to making more mistakes. That’s why it’s vital to double-check your work before submitting it. It’ll save you having to spend that time working on revisions or fixing errors.
When put into practice, these efforts can become habits and help you work faster. Next, we’ll explore how setting goals can help you want to work faster.
Can setting goals help me work faster?
Goal setting takes time, but it saves you more time in the long run. Here’s how effectively setting specific goals can help you manage your time better.
First, think about what you want to achieve, then break big tasks down into smaller chunks. Smaller tasks are easier to hit than one massive goal that seems far in the distance.
To stay on track, use the SMART method. We’re sure you’ve encountered it before, but as a reminder, a SMART goal is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-based
Keep goals visible, so you don’t forget about them. Once you begin to work toward your goals, it’ll help boost your work speed and productivity.
Use time wisely
With a goal in mind, you’ll know what you’re striving for. It’ll clarify your priorities, and you’ll put more effort into the tasks that matter. It’ll also help you identify tasks that aren’t quite as important, which you can delegate or automate.
Goals keep you motivated
Knowing you are heading toward achieving a goal that matters to you will motivate you! Instead of stumbling blindly without direction, your work will focus on helping you attain something important. That emotional connection you have with your goal will inspire you to keep going.
Individual goals are inspiring, but what about when you need to work as part of a team? Here’s how you can encourage fast teamwork.
How can I work faster on a team?
Individual time management contributes toward team success. But what about when your teammates work slower than you? Don’t worry, teams can collectively work faster with a few applied habits and changes in process.
Clarify individual responsibilities
First, it’s vital all team members are clear on their areas of responsibility. This way, nothing gets left undone and several people won’t be working on the same tasks. It’s helpful to know each other’s responsibilities, too. A Project Portfolio Management Template can help organize people and tasks across your business, so they’re working more efficiently.
Collaborate and communicate
Things go wrong, people become overbooked, and breakdown in communication might cause some confusion. This can easily happen on big projects. Having a platform that allows for constant team communication helps team members discuss issues and find solutions, rather than stalling because they’re worried about a problem. Luckily, monday.com has collaboration tools built right in, so you can discuss what’s important, in real-time.
Keep meetings brief and focused
The best meetings are those that are concise, focused, and only take up as much time as necessary. When conducting meetings, it can be helpful to send around a list of points that you’ll discuss and any supporting materials. Add everyone to a Work Calendar Template, so everyone shows up on time.
Work faster and smarter with monday.com
Learning how to work faster is a combination of conscious effort and forming the right habits. Once you have the mindset, you can use helpful collaborative tools such as our Work OS and monday.com templates to get work done quickly to a high standard.
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